RUTHFULLY YOURS

http://pjmedia.com/blog/supreme-ironies-obamacare-and-the-court/?print=1

When Chief Justice John Roberts and his fellow Supreme Court justices review Obamacare next year, it will be a moment of supreme irony.

The Roberts Court will decide the constitutionality of President Obama’s signature legislation under the Commerce Clause, since the law was cast as a regulation of interstate commerce, although it was actually a massive new government entitlement, using an unprecedented individual mandate to provide insurance companies the funds to administer it. Appellate courts across the nation have struggled with the issue, producing opinions in six different circuits covering a total of 654 pages, using diverse analyses to reach conflicting decisions (and usually split ones), necessitating Supreme Court review.

How should the Justices approach the issue Obamacare presents? What judicial philosophy should they bring to the question? The answer to that question may require the resolution of an issue raised six years ago — in a confirmation proceeding involving a new senator seeking to justify his vote against an indisputably qualified nominee.

The nominee was John Roberts, and the senator was Barack Obama.

http://townhall.com/columnists/benshapiro/2011/11/16/penn_state_the_banality_of_collaborative_evil

When the Israeli government captured Nazi mass murderer Adolf Eichmann, journalist Hannah Arendt was struck by the fact that Eichmann appeared to be a nondescript accountant type. He was not highly intelligent, and he did not appear to be particularly vicious. This led Arendt to the conclusion that anyone could, under the right ideological circumstances, become evil. Evil, she said, was banal.

This was an exaggeration of the case. Eichmann was a willing executioner of Hitler’s orders; he identified deeply with Hitler’s anti-Semitism. He was not just a cog in the system, he was an active system-maker.

But there is truth to the notion that anyone, given the right amount of self-interest, can be sucked into collaborating with evil — or at least looking the other way. Edmund Burke once stated that all that was necessary for the triumph of evil was for good men to do nothing. The Nazis believed ideologically in the murder of Jews, but the rest of the Western world, including the Roosevelt administration, were willing to sit idly, closing their gates to the refugees. A Holocaust is a worldwide affair.

At Penn State, the same principle applied. Former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky spent decades sexually assaulting young boys. He started a charity, The Second Mile, to recruit young boys. One victim was a houseguest with Sandusky. Sandusky fondled him, performed oral sex on him and forced the boy to perform oral sex in return. A Clinton County high school routinely called the victim out of study hall to meet Sandusky in a conference room. The wrestling coach at the high school, Joe Miller, saw Sandusky molesting the victim; Sandusky said that he was wrestling the boy. Miller found the situation odd, but said nothing. This behavior lasted from 2005 to 2009.

In President Higgins’s Ireland, The Wearin’ Of The (Islamic) Green?

http://daphneanson.blogspot.com/
As the Irish blogger Mark Humphrys has remarked, deploringly, Michael D. Higgins, sworn in on 11 November as the ninth President of the Republic of Ireland, is the most anti-American and most anti-Israel head of state in the western world.

With Higgins’s track record, its no wonder the extremely virulent Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign is cock-a-hoop at its old friend’s rise to a position if not of wide formal powers, then certainly of not inconsiderable influence.

I’ve taken my eye off the Emerald Isle since posting about Michael D. Higgins a little while ago. So I’m grateful to Mark Humphrys (whose blog has many revealing photos of Higgins like this one) for paying a visit to this site just now, and giving me the tidbit that at President Higgins’s inauguration an Islamic cleric recited a prayer.

Nothing wrong with a little bit of ecumenism, you might say. After all, what better way to make all sections of society feel they are part and parcel of the nation in which they live than by their religious representatives participating at such a state occasion?

http://www.hudson-ny.org/2581/norway-islamist

Anti-Semitism in Norway, where I have lived for twelve years, is over the top. I have never quite gotten used to it. Every now and then I hear or read something that reminds me that I am living in Europe, in a country that was occupied by the Nazis, and where a lot of people were perfectly okay with that. I think it is fair to say that anti-Semitism in Norway is most virulent among the cultural elite – the academics, intellectuals, writers, journalists, politicians, and technocrats – although thanks to the media and schools, it has trickled down to many ordinary Norwegians, some of whom may never even have met a Jewish person.

This anti-Semitism manifests itself in various ways. When Obama became president, former Norwegian prime minister Kåre Willoch said things did not look promising because Obama had “chosen a Jew as chief of staff.” The chief rabbi of the Oslo synagogue reportedly receives a pile of hate mail every day. During the Gaza War, a major Norwegian newspaper had trouble finding Norwegian Jews who were willing to comment on the record about the war: they said they were scared of repercussions. Norwegian academics have sought to ban contacts with Israeli universities. Norwegian activists have encouraged boycotts of Israeli products. There is terrible anti-Semitic bullying in the schools. Every so often, a high-profile professor or activist or famous author will write a virulent op-ed or give an angry speech denouncing Israel and insulting Jews. Nothing could be safer for them to say; no one will seek to harm them physically or otherwise – as opposed to what would happen if, say, they made certain public statements about Islam. And they know this. Norway’s most respected newspaper cartoonist, Finn Graff, who has admitted that he never draws cartoons about Islam because he is scared for his life, has frequently drawn cartoons comparing Israelis to Nazis; he knows Jews will never harm him. These anti-Semitic op-eds and speeches and cartoons are never remotely fresh, witty, or original; all they ever do is recycle tired cultural-elite clichés. And their creators get nothing but praise from their colleagues, who celebrate them as courageous truth-tellers. It is much more acceptable to scream “kill the Jews” at an anti-Israeli protest than it is to criticize Hamas.

http://sultanknish.blogspot.com/

As the ObamaCare Mandate winds its way up to the Supreme Court, which will decide whether we still have the freedom to look after our own health in our own way without compulsion from the authorities, it’s still only the tip of the positive rights iceberg.

When entitlements are transformed into positive rights, this creates a universal reciprocal obligation, first of all to pay for them, and second of all to participate in a planned economy that provides those entitlements as cost effectively as possible. The Mandate is a typical consequence of the process.

The health insurance industry will provide affordable insurance for those who need it most, in exchange for the government delivering recalcitrant consumers who aren’t interested in buying their products. The same principle can be used to make checking accounts more affordable if banks agree to remove minimum balance requirements in exchange for the government compelling everyone to sign up with a bank. The industry gets captive customers and the government gets to write off another social problem.

http://www.dianawest.net/Home/tabid/36/EntryId/1953/The-Truth-Hurts-Saudi-Arabia.aspx

Saudi Arabia — sorry, “The Kingdom” — is going ballistic over a 30-second commercial currently airing on Fox Business Network. Does Prince Talal know?

With thanks to Kathy Shaidle:

NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2011 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — EthicalOil.org fights Saudi “lawfare” by expanding campaign’s reach

EthicalOil.org, a grassroots advocacy organization that educates consumers about the choice between ethical oil from Canada’s oil sands and conflict oil from some of the world’s most repressive regimes, is now airing a television ad in the United States that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is actively trying to block in Canada.

The 30 second television ad factually informs North Americans of Saudi Arabia’s horrific treatment of women and asks “why are we paying their bills and funding their oppression” through our annual purchase of 400 million barrels of Saudi oil. The ad presents ethical oil from Canada’s oil sands as the alternative to Saudi conflict oil.

http://www.translatingjihad.com/2011/11/egyptian-candidate-for-president.html
Egyptian Candidate for President Praises bin Laden as a Martyr
Posted by Translating Jihad

According to the Weekly Standard, the man featured in the clip above, Egyptian candidate for president Hazem Salah Abu Ismail, “may well follow Mubarak as Egypt’s first Islamist president.” If so then this video clip–which was posted on YouTube on 4 August, and later reported on in several Arab media outlets–might give us a frightening glimpse into what kind of partner in the War on Terror the new Egyptian regime will be.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2061842/Mohammad-Shafia-murdered-daughter-honour-killing-said-hed-again.html

WILL “LIFE WITH FATHER” BE AN EPISODE IN THE NEW TV SERIES ON CHEERFUL MOSLEMS IN AMERICA?…RSK
‘I would do it again 100 times’: Muslim father ‘murdered his THREE daughters in honour killing for dating wrong boys”May the devil…(defecate) on their graves. Is that what a daughter should be? Would (a daughter) be such a whore?’

Mohammad Shafia

A Muslim father charged with murdering his three daughters in apparent honour killings has said he would do it again – even if they came back to life 100 times.

Mohammad Shafia, 58, cursed his daughters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, saying they were ‘treacherous’ as he likened them to prostitutes during a conversation that was recorded by police.

He is on trial for their murders after they were found dead in the family car along with Shafia’s first wife, Rona Amir, 50, in the Rideau Canal, located in the Kingston area of Ontario in Canada in 2009.

Initially police thought the family had been involved in an accident and Shafia told them during an interview that he didn’t know where they were.

However, his version of accounts did not add up and he was arrested and charged with their murder.
Young teenager: Geeti Shafia was just 13 when she was found dead in the submerged carYoung teenager: Geeti Shafia was just 13 when she was found dead in the submerged car

Shafia, who moved to Canada from Afghanistan with his family, is polygamous and after his arrest was heard telling his second wife, Tooba Yahya, that their daughters had brought shame on the family.

He said: ‘Even if, God forbid, they hoist us on to the gallows… we accept it wholeheartedly’, a day after his arrest.

The court heard the recordings in which Shafia talks about his daughters and the fact that they were dating while ranting about the family’s honour.

Zainab had married her boyfriend – a Pakistani man – angering Shafia and causing family turmoil.

After Yahya said that she knew Zainab was ‘already done’ but wished ‘the two others’ weren’t, he responded saying ‘No Tooba, they were treacherous.’

Tooba Yahya, 41, and their son, Hamed, 20, are both on trial with him facing charges of first-degree murder. Hamed has denied even being at the death scene. All three have pleaded not guilty to murder.

Speaking about pictures of his daughter he said he was consoled adding, ‘No Tooba, they were treacherous. When I tell you to be patient, you tell me that it is hard.

‘It isn’t harder than watching them every hour with (boyfriends). For this reason whenever I see those pictures, I am consoled.
‘I say to myself, “You did well. Would they come back to life a hundred times, for you to do the same again”.’

Shaifa’s first wife Rona and Sahar were seen on the back seat, their heads touching.

‘May the devil…(defecate) on their graves. Is that what a daughter should be? Would (a daughter) be such a whore?’

Mohammad Shafia

One of the windows was open on the car, but it appears that no attempts had been made by any of the victims to escape from the vehicle.

The family was returning from a trip to Niagara Falls when it ended up in the canal and all the victims were found to have drowned.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4148188,00.html
A new approach on Iran

Op-ed: Iranian nukes could be blessing in disguise if they prompt new way of thinking

Failure to divert Iran from becoming a nuclear power has prompted calls for military action, but a pre-emptive attack against Iran would be unpredictable and therefore unwise. There are better alternatives.

Assuming that Iran develops a nuclear warhead, it is still unclear whether it is capable of launching a nuclear-tipped missile from its territory. Using proxies, like Hezbollah, Hamas, and Jihadists, and planes and ships is possible, but risky.

Rather than engaging in irresponsible rhetoric, threats and boasting, the situation requires strategic watchfulness. The deployment of allied anti-missile-equipped ships in the Gulf is a serious commitment and missile defense systems amplify the chances that an incoming missile will be intercepted. The launch of a first strike, however, should trigger a response with full force.

Bill Kuntz  recently became a federal judge in Eastern District of NY.  His talk at his public swearing in was so good that I wanted you to be able to read it.  Here it is:   CHIEF JUDGE AMON, JUDGES OF THE COURTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, JUDGES OF THE COURTS OF THE […]